2013 Master National Qualifiers (312 to date) and 48 MH on one weekend

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Why dont they just open the entries for a limited amount of time and limit the entries. If you get in you get in if you dont you dont. Then it doesnt hurt the weekend tests, and people can still shoot for qualifiying.

I need to correct my original post. I mis-read what Retriever Results reported. 48 dogs QUALIFIED last weekend for the 2013 Master National (I said 48 dogs got their MH title which was in error).

There is a lot of time left for dogs to qualify for the 2013 MN and they are already at 312 -- despite the fact that the warmer hunt test season is yet to come in many regions of the country. Over 700 entered the MN last year. I can see why the MNRC sees this as a problem. I don't have the numbers for how many were still running on day 3, 4, etc. nor how many were still running in the last day. Does anyone have these statistics?

I am guessing that prior to proposing revising the qualifications for entering the MN, the MNRC officers and board members studied those numbers and decided that there was a large drop in dogs by day 4 and, I assume, they studied the ages of those dogs dropped by day 4 to come up with the rationale that the MN was too difficult for young dogs -- that they qualified to start, but were too immature to finish.

Going along with that thought, the MNRC makes good money on over 700 entries, but finding grounds to run that many flights the first 3 or 4 days and finding enough volunteers to handle that many flights is difficult. Also, when dogs fail by day 3 or 4, owners seem to leave the event, which means a lot of volunteer workers leave.

This is not only a problem for the master national, it also exists at that National Amateur and the National Open. Folks seem to stay to whoop it up at the Wed. night Workers Party, but by Thurs. afternoon and Friday morning attendance and the amount of volunteers has definitely diminished.

If the revised amendment passes, only time will tell if this cuts down on the number of dogs who enter the master national. At least the MNRC recognizes the problem of high entries for the MN and are trying to do something about them. They raised entry fees to $350 and now are trying to make qualifying tougher. What else can be done? Harder tests ? Raising the scoring number for pass/fail ? Raising the number of passes in a qualifying year ?

It's easy to say "no" to the revision, but what other solutions can those who participate in hunt tests come up with?

Why not limit like you say, but people running more than one dog have to list them 1,2,3 etc. Everyone enters their dogs that way.
First round all #1's get selected. Second round all #2's get selected. Go thru all rounds until full.

I don't know about you guys, but I'd like the system to be geared towards qualifying the "cream of the crop", rather than "luck of the draw".

There aren't as many A students, as there are C students. Not nearly.

There isn't an AKC HT level higher than Master. That's why there is so much demand for something "more".
The dogs that get a chance to prove that they are more than a run-of-the-mill MH, should first be required to prove that they are well capable of exceeding the standard.

Why not put on more than one Master National at a time. Run two or even three spread out across the country during the same time period? If its about a standard then the same standard would apply no matter where the test is ran, right? I have only been in the HT world for a couple years and nowhere near the MN level, so keep in that it mind before you hammer on me

This is a tough one. The standards have been set and a LOT of people are playing this. MANY clubs are having to limit numbers. If you don't do something, the numbers will become overwhelming. If you change the requirements, this diminsh the accomplishment of previous dogs who have passed/titled. Definitely not an easy solution!

The dogs that received qualifying scores at the Master National are only required 4 additional passes to qualify for the next year...why not require those also have 6 passes to qualify for the next MN. Just saying...